Libraries today must realize the greatest possible return on their investment in electronic scholarly resources and digital preservation services, and need to move aggressively to reduce the costs of redundant print holdings. In 2006 the Center for Research Libraries began certifying repositories of interest to the CRL community. Certification augments CRL’s strategic archiving of print and supports the responsible transition by CRL libraries to electronic-only formats where appropriate.

To inform and guide each of these assesments CRL forms panel of advisors representing the various sectors of its membership. The CRL Certification Advisory Panel[2] ensures that the certification process addresses the interests of the entire CRL community, and includes leaders in collection development, preservation, and library information technology.